It’s the year of dog, and I’m delighted to be kicking of the Chinese new year with some excellent news about my book Lucy and the Rocket Dog, which has been shortlisted on the LITA Excellence in Children’s and Young Adult Science Fiction Notable Lists. Now would be a good time to buy a copy for the small scientist in your life. Or for your dog, as a cautionary tale.

]]>http://willbuckingham.com/lucy-and-the-rocket-dog-on-lita-notable-books-list/feed/33101Stealing with the Eyes – out in May 2018http://willbuckingham.com/stealing-with-the-eyes-out-in-may-2018/
http://willbuckingham.com/stealing-with-the-eyes-out-in-may-2018/#commentsWed, 06 Dec 2017 12:36:47 +0000http://willbuckingham.com/?p=3030[…] Read more]]>I’m very pleased to see the cover of Stealing with the Eyes, my memoir of anthropology and Indonesia, due out from Haus Publishing in 2018.

The cover image is a photograph I took of Saumlaki harbour in Tanimbar back in 1994. I dug it out of a shoebox and scanned the transparency.

Stealing with the Eyes

I’ll say more about the book closer to the publication date. I’ve set up a page for it on this website, although it is currently a bit skeletal. The book is also available for pre-order, including from Amazon.

]]>http://willbuckingham.com/stealing-with-the-eyes-out-in-may-2018/feed/13030More thoughts on killinghttp://willbuckingham.com/more-thoughts-on-killing/
http://willbuckingham.com/more-thoughts-on-killing/#respondFri, 24 Nov 2017 15:38:44 +0000http://willbuckingham.com/?p=3016[…] Read more]]>As promised, I’ve just posted the (lightly edited) text of what I was talking about last night at the Cambridge Union, over on my Wayward Philosophy blog. It is about killing, and Levinas, and uncertainty, and ambivalence. I was uncomfortably aware last night that ambivalence is not a strong position to take when engaging in debates of this kind; but then I’m pretty uneasy with strong ethical positions — for reasons that should be clear in the piece.

]]>http://willbuckingham.com/more-thoughts-on-killing/feed/03016Thinking about Killing – at Cambridge Unionhttp://willbuckingham.com/thinking-about-killing-at-cambridge-union/
http://willbuckingham.com/thinking-about-killing-at-cambridge-union/#respondThu, 23 Nov 2017 14:28:15 +0000http://willbuckingham.com/?p=3005[…] Read more]]>This evening, I’m heading to Cambridge where I’m taking part in a Cambridge Union debate on the motion ‘This House Would Kill One to Save Many’. Also debating are Professor Julian Savulescu from the University of Oxford, the prolific philosopher, writer and podcaster Nigel Warbuton, Professor Alexandra Tanensini from Cardiff, Charlotte Knowles from Birbeck, and Lucy Yu, who is head of innovation and New Mobility Services at the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (and who, I imagine, has a professional interest in the problems of speeding vehicles and imperilled members of the public that most of us do not).

It should be a fun and interesting evening, although I’m hoping that we won’t spend the entire evening talking about the famous trolley problem. I have to confess in advance that I don’t really know whether I would or wouldn’t kill one to save many. Nor am I wholly convinced that the debate format is much more than a weird form of entertainment. But hopefully it will be possible to derail things for long enough to allow in some interesting thoughts.

Anyway, I’ll post something about it all after the event over on my (currently rather inactive) Wayward Philosophy blog, and link to it from here.

]]>http://willbuckingham.com/thinking-about-killing-at-cambridge-union/feed/03005Now Represented by C+Whttp://willbuckingham.com/now-represented-by-cw/
http://willbuckingham.com/now-represented-by-cw/#respondWed, 22 Nov 2017 10:21:15 +0000http://willbuckingham.com/?p=3001[…] Read more]]>I’m very pleased to have found myself a new agent at C+W, where I will be represented by the excellent Emma Fine. I’m very much looking forward to getting started on work with Emma on two non-fiction projects that have been in the works for a long time: one big, single-themed project that ranges across anthropology, philosophy, literature, history and other such things, and also a memoir with Chinese characteristics or 中国特色 (as they say in the PRC). Or at least with Chinese philosophical characteristics. I’ll post more news about both of these projects once they are up and running.

]]>http://willbuckingham.com/now-represented-by-cw/feed/03001A Practical Guide to Happiness: New Edition out in 2018http://willbuckingham.com/a-practical-guide-to-happiness-new-edition-out-in-2018/
http://willbuckingham.com/a-practical-guide-to-happiness-new-edition-out-in-2018/#respondThu, 16 Nov 2017 15:56:46 +0000http://willbuckingham.com/?p=2950I’m delighted that my introductory guide to the philosophies of happiness is to be re-released in early 2018 by Icon Books. It’s also got a handsome new cover. I’ll post on this blog when the book is out.

]]>http://willbuckingham.com/a-practical-guide-to-happiness-new-edition-out-in-2018/feed/02950Women in Philosophy Course on Highbrowhttp://willbuckingham.com/women-in-philosophy-course-on-highbrow/
http://willbuckingham.com/women-in-philosophy-course-on-highbrow/#respondFri, 27 Oct 2017 11:10:40 +0000http://willbuckingham.com/?p=2934[…] Read more]]>I’m really excited to be launching my Women in Philosophy mini-course today over on highbrow. It’s a ten day course that covers everything and everyone from Diotima and Hypatia to Judith Butler and Kimberlé Crenshaw. It’s been hugely stimulating and challenging to write, and has provoked me into thinking once again about the misogyny and sexism of the Western philosophical tradition. Here’s a list of all the philosophers covered:

Diotima of Mantinea

Hypatia of Alexandria

Héloïse

Hildegard von Bingen

Mary Wollstonecraft

Simone de Beauvoir

Hannah Arendt

Judith Butler

Martha Nussbaum

Kimberlé Crenshaw

Kathryn T. Gines

There are so many other philosophers and thinkers I could have included. But in a mini-course with only ten five-minute lessons, space was limited. If you sign up to Highbrow (the course is a premium course, but you can sign up for a month for free), let me know how you get on.

]]>http://willbuckingham.com/women-in-philosophy-course-on-highbrow/feed/02934Letyar Tun in Conversationhttp://willbuckingham.com/letyar-tun-in-conversation/
http://willbuckingham.com/letyar-tun-in-conversation/#respondSun, 22 Oct 2017 13:02:21 +0000http://willbuckingham.com/?p=2923I’m very much looking forward to interviewing Burmese writer, translator and photojournalist Letyar Tun at Aston University on Thursday 9th November at 6pm. The event is one of three launching the British Council’s collection Hidden Words, Hidden Worlds: Contemporary Short Stories from Myanmar.

]]>http://willbuckingham.com/letyar-tun-in-conversation/feed/02923Teaching at the OU and OCAhttp://willbuckingham.com/teaching-at-the-ou-and-oca/
http://willbuckingham.com/teaching-at-the-ou-and-oca/#respondTue, 19 Sep 2017 11:50:08 +0000http://willbuckingham.com/?p=2901[…] Read more]]>After a pause of a few months, I’m pleased to be back to teaching again. I’ve always found teaching and writing mutually supportive, so I’m delighted to be working on the second year of the Open University MA course in Creative Writing, and on the BA in Creative Writing at the Open College of the Arts. Term starts soon, and so I’m looking forward to virtually meeting my new students in the next couple of weeks.
]]>http://willbuckingham.com/teaching-at-the-ou-and-oca/feed/02901Messages, in The Amoristhttp://willbuckingham.com/messages-in-the-amorist/
http://willbuckingham.com/messages-in-the-amorist/#commentsFri, 15 Sep 2017 11:38:01 +0000http://willbuckingham.com/?p=2897I’m very pleased to see my new short story, ‘Messages’, published in vol 6 of The Amorist, the magazine ‘for devotees of love and passion.’ It is a tale of distance, desire and the power of words. The Amorist should be available from all good newsagents.
]]>http://willbuckingham.com/messages-in-the-amorist/feed/12897